Breed targets bureaucracy in effort to improve SF...

2of2Kim Mays checks traffic at the intersection of Leavenworth and Ellis streets in 2016. Her cousin was fatally struck by a vehicle there a few weeks earlier.Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez / The Chronicle

So, Breed has directed three city agencies to accelerate safety projects and ramp up enforcement, particularly on the 13 percent of city streets that officials have dubbed “high injury corridors” because they account for more than 75 percent of crash injuries and fatalities.

Breed told the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency to create a policy to expedite installation of safety posts, roadway markings and temporary sidewalk extensions to separate pedestrians from cars, among other measures. She ordered the San Francisco Police Department to crack down on speeding motorists, people who run stop signs or red lights and drivers who violate people’s right of way in crosswalks. And she requested that the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission delegate more staff toward the city’s “Vision Zero” goal of eliminating traffic fatalities by 2024.

Her announcement followed six serious collisions in a week that left two people dead and at least four more people severely injured.

Breed called these collisions a “tragic reminder of how much work we still have to do to ensure that all of our residents are safe on our streets.” She blamed a bureaucratic morass for holding up common-sense safety enhancements, but declined to hold any official or city department at fault.

On Wednesday, Breed urged more inter-agency collaboration. She asked the police to issue at least half of their citations for the top five traffic violations — speeding, violating pedestrian right-of-way, running red lights, running stop signs, and failing to yield while turning. She also told the SFPUC to install better street lights on dangerous roads, since half of the most recent crashes occurred at night.

Board of Supervisors President Norman Yee praised this approach, saying San Francisco leaders “must be relentless when it comes to enforcing a no-tolerance policy on any shortcomings — from pursuing hit-and-run drivers to urging our state’s legislators to clear any obstacles, to implementing automated speed enforcement citywide.”

Reiskin conveyed similar urgency discussing last week’s spate of collisions at the SFMTA board meeting Tuesday. He dispatched engineers to investigate each location, update traffic signs at the intersections and suggest other short-term protections.

“Clearly there’s been a lot done, but events like last week remind us that it’s clearly not enough,” Reiskin said.

Rachel Swan covers transportation for The Chronicle. She joined the paper in 2015 and has also reported on politics in Oakland and San Francisco.

Previously, Rachel held staff positions at the SF Weekly and the East Bay Express, where she covered technology, law and the arts. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in rhetoric from the University of California, Berkeley.